Fostering food security through dairy development

Today, 760 billion litres of milk are produced globally each year. By 2023, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), global demand for milk will rise to 900 billion litres.By anyone's maths, continuing with business-as-usual is never going to fill this ever-widening gap.

The primary driver is a growing global population expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. That's a lot of mouths to feed - FAO estimates that farmers will need to produce 70 per cent more food to meet the needs of this many people.

It's clear we have a problem. Over 4.4 billion people live here across Asiathat's over half of the world's population. The only answer is to expand supply, especially in emerging and developing economies like Sri Lanka where we know demand will grow the fastest.

As a nutritious food, dairy has a big role to play in meeting these needs. Today, global dairy production is growing by a steady 1.8 per cent annually, with a major chunk of that growth coming from the Asia-Pacific region. But with demand growing by 2.4 per cent in the same time-frame, it's clear the industry needs to grow faster to keep up.

Small-hold dairy farmers - or farmers with up to 10 cows - currently produce 33 per cent of the world's milk. Here in Sri Lanka, these farmers produce around three litres per cow per day versus around 25 litres per cow in coun- tries like New Zealand. Helping these farmers produce more and higher quality milk will therefore be key to bridgingthe dairy supply and demand gap.

This will not only help meet the world's fast-growing demand for protein. Governments across the region want to ensure that a reasonable proportion of their food needs can be met locally and in many countries, the gap between local supply and demand remains significant. Up-skilling smallhold dairy farmers in developing countries like Sri Lankawill help themmeet a growing percentage of their domestic needs.

Like most agriculture, dairy farming is an activity that creates value from available arable land.An estimated 44 per cent of agricultural land in Sri Lanka is sparsely used, which gives an indication of the potential for expansion.

Farming is a business and to be sustainable, it must support the livelihoods of farming families and communities. This can be a challenge for farmers who are producing only three to four litres of milk per cow per day, which is the average production in Sri Lanka.

Genetics is one part of the equation, but it is managing animal health and nutrition in a challenging tropical environment that really helps local farmers boost production. Farmers will achieve improved milk production by better managing things like meeting cows' complex and changing nutritional requirements, ensuring access to adequate water and providing good housing with freedom of movement.

This means education and training is critical, which is where partnerships come in. The private and public sectors here in Sri Lanka - and around the world - have a wealth of knowledge that can be shared to help local dairying communities thrive.

As a dairy company, built on generations of expertise, we believe we have a role to play in helping dairying farmers build sustainable and commercially viable businesses, and we work closely with the Sri Lankan dairy industry to do this.

We have programmes in place that allow us to share our knowledge and expertise with local farming communities. The ultimate goal is to help these farmers increase their productivity and income through simple changes to on-farm practices, and we've been encouraged by the results.

Within the first yearof our extension and training programme, participating farmershavealready increased production by 42 per cent and income by 55 per cent. If we can further refine and scale up our impact, we're confident Sri Lanka can accelerate dairy production and meet a much larger proportion of the country's growing demand.

This is our take on dairy development. It makes sense commercially, it makes sense for the Sri Lankan communities we work with, and it makes sense for a world where demand for dairy nutrition is only going to keep growing.